1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an in-vehicle system including a portable terminal and an in-vehicle device, an in-vehicle device, and a method for controlling an execution of commands of the in-vehicle device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in-vehicle devices are mounted on many vehicles. In-vehicle device has, for example, a navigation function for guiding the vehicle along a route using images or sound, a radio receiving function, and an audio function.
While such an in-vehicle device can provide various functions in a vehicle, it is also required to have a high performance to achieve these functions. Therefore, the initial cost of the in-vehicle device tends to become high, and cost reduction thereof has become increasingly demanded.
To meet these demands, in-vehicle systems are being developed. The in-vehicle systems link an in-vehicle device incorporated in a vehicle with a portable terminal such as a portable telephone and a personal handy-phone system (PHS).
This type of in-vehicle system uses functions preinstalled in the portable terminal represented by a third-generation portable phone, such as a navigation function, an audio function, and a moving-image reproduction function, and causes a speaker and a display of the in-vehicle device to generate sound and images.
In brief, the in-vehicle device of such in-vehicle system is specialized in outputting sound and images. Hence, both the hardware configuration and the software configuration of the in-vehicle device are simplified. Consequently, the in-vehicle device as a product can be provided at a lower price.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-244343 discloses an information display system which configures a portable terminal and an in-vehicle device in a mutually-communicable manner so as to supply data displayed on a screen of the portable terminal to the in-vehicle device, and cause the data to be displayed on a screen of the in-vehicle device.
However, as described below, the conventional technique of Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2003-244343 has a problem of being unable to appropriately execute a command given by an occupant.
For example, in the information display system mentioned above, when a function corresponding to a command given by an occupant is executable in both the in-vehicle device and the portable terminal, the command is not always executed in a device that the occupant intends to operate, and thus the command is not executed as intended by the occupant.
This problem is explained in detail. When the in-vehicle device includes a display-input unit (such as a touch panel) which can display an image and receive an input, as a user interface, a screen displayed on the touch panel is defined and generated by an application of the portable terminal and the like. The in-vehicle device cannot interpret the intention of a command given by the occupant. Therefore, the in-vehicle device transfers operation data received on the touch panel to the portable terminal. Meanwhile, the portable terminal interprets and executes the command based on the operation data supplied from the in-vehicle device.
Therefore, even when an occupant operates to execute the command in the in-vehicle device, the command is actually executed by the portable terminal, and thus a command cannot be executed as intended by the occupant.
Further, the information display system causes data displayed on the screen of the portable terminal to be displayed on the in-vehicle device. When all the data in the portable terminal is displayed on the in-vehicle device without distinction, occupants other than the owner of the portable terminal may see the personal information of the owner of the portable terminal. As a result, some command may be executed against the will of the owner.
More specifically, private information of an individual, such as an address list, an outgoing/incoming call register, e-mails, and record of the e-mails, are registered in the portable terminal. Any occupant of a vehicle can view the information when he/she performs a browsing operation.
Particularly, when display data of a portable terminal belonging to a driver is displayed on an in-vehicle device, the driver cannot perform operations other than driving the vehicle. Therefore, the driver cannot cancel or stop another occupant's operation of browsing personal information.